Improvement in gun-cleaners



G. CRANE.

Gun Cleaner.

Patented Nov. 15, 1864.

if rzeww N. PH RS. PHOTO-LITHOGHAPHER. WASMINGTOMD. c.

UNITED T'rn a'rnn'r FFICE.

MOSES G. CRANE, OF CHARLESTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPRUVEMENT ihi GUN=CLEANERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. d5,tlit&?, datedNovember 15, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Mosns G. CRANE, of Charlestown, county of Middlesex,and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Gun-Cleaner; and Ido hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with thedrawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is adescription of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in theart to practice it.

Letters Patent of the United States numbered 43,57 were granted to me011 the 19th day of July, 1864-, for an improved gun-cleaner.

The object or my present improvement is to obtain an instrument of acheaper and more simple construction than the gun-cleaner so patented,the invention consisting in the peculiar method of bringingthe scrapersinto contact with the sides of the bore of the gun.

Figure l of the drawings is a side view of the cleaner with the springsclosed together; Fig. 2, a similar View with the springs pressed open.Fig. 3 is an end view. Fig. 4 is a section through the center ofthetool; Fig. 5, a section on the line 50 .r, and Fig. 6 a section onthe line cc, of Fig. 2; and Fig. 7, a section on the line y y of Fig.at.

a denotes the screw-shank or tube by which the cleaner is attached tothe ramrod of a gun;

b b 11, separate spring leaves or plates, having their contiguous edgessoldered or fastened together at top and to the adjacent surface of theshank-piece a, the action of the springs keeping them normally closedtogether, as seen in Figs. 1 and 7. Each spring is provided at, itslower end with a scraper or scraping-edge, c, and is also bent or madewith a depression, 0. The series of depressions form together anenlargement of the space within the sp rings,in which enlargement anexpander, d, is placed, as seen in Fig. 1. This expander slides looselywithin the depressions, and it has a pendulous tongue-piece, f, hangingfrom it, and so as to slide a certain distance through its center, aswill be understood from Figs. 1 and 4, the tongue projecting normallybeyond the scraper c. XVhen the tool is inserted in a gun-barrel, thesprings are together, and the scrapers slide freely down the borewithout acting on its surface. Vhen the tip of the tongue-piece strikesthe bottom of the bore, the tongue slides up through the expander untilan enlargement thereon, striking the bot tom of the expander, forces itstop, which is inclined, against the upper ends of the depressions e,(which are also inclincd,) and opens out the springs. The cylindricalpart of the expander just below the inclination is carried into contactwith the springs above the depressions, and holds the springs open, asseen in Figs. 2 and 3. Vhen the tool is then drawn through the bore, thescrapers will be held in contact with the surface thereof, (thealternate scrapers slipping into the grooves, if the arm is a rifle,)stripping from the barrel the lead and powder in the same manner as withmy other gun-cleaner. XVhen the instrument is withdrawn and the tongueallowed to slide down in the expander, the tip will project, so that itcan be taken hold of and the expander pulled back into the depressions,allowing the springs to close together.

It will be obvious that this instrument can be made much cheaper thanthe other cleaner, from the employment of the series of plates brazedtogether at top and held normally in a closed position without the aidof an encompassingring.

I claim 1. Making the gun-cleaner of a series of leaves or springs whichare held together normally, and spread open by the action of anexpander, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the tongue, the expander, and the depressions inthe spring, arranged and operating together substantially as set forth.

MOSES G. CRANE.

